The 40th Annual Kiwanis Walleye World Fishing Derby is just a week away.
The 2023 event, a major fundraiser for the Trenton Kiwanis Club, is back in full force this year after COVID restrictions forced its cancellation three years running.
The Kiwanis Club’s Remco DeGooyer says they’re hoping as many as 5,000 contestants hit the waters of the Bay of Quinte.
“Well, fishing kicks off at 12:01 a.m. this year on May 6 and goes until 4 p.m. on the 7th. The leader boards will be active all weekend long. We have top five for both adults, Walleye and Pike, and top five for juniors.”
There are also tagged fish and hidden weight prizes.
While the event is for a great cause, the prizes are pretty good too – the first place prize for Walleye is $10,000 cash while the first place for Pike earns a boat and trailer package.
The Trenton Kiwanis Club supports many local initiatives and activities and DeGooyer says 100% of funds raised through the fishing derby or any of their other events are distributed in the community.
“Of course annually we support things like Quinte West Soccer, Quinte West Minor Hockey, but we also make special donations as well like, for example, when the Afghanistan Repatriation Memorial was built, we made a donation to that, about $10,000. And, you know, things that help, that overall help to elevate our community.”
COVID restrictions over the last few years have been challenging for them.
“We don’t have the necessary ability to make large donations like we did with the Afghan memorial for example, but you know, we try to still make that sure we support as many things as we can. We’ve benefitted from the fact that we can still run our golf tournament.”
They were also able to hold the Christmas Sharing luncheon last year raising funds for Christmas Sharing baskets and Catherine’s Kitchen in Trenton.
DeGooyer says even if you don’t fish, you can buy a ticket to support the Kiwanis Club.
Details on how to register, a list of prizes and and live leader boards can be found at kiwaniswalleyeworld.com.
